On Sunday, Sept 27th a group of New (and old) New Yorkers gathered together to spend a day in Governors Island. Our group of about 20 people was primarily immigrants coming from different parts of the world who now call Queens home. Friends and family members (there were a couple of mother and daughter teams) came for variety of reasons. Some were artists who were interested in the art and others simply wanted to have an opportunity to explore outside of Queens.

After a short ferry ride to the Island, our trip started with introductions and a simple book-making activity. I wanted to give our New New Yorkers a creative opportunity to document their trip to Governors Island. With a sheet of 18’x24’ drawing paper we created a small folded booklet.

After our gallery exploration, we were ready for Open Studio to meet the artists and talk to them about their work.

We talked to Queens resident and artist Damali Abrams about the Queens connection to her art and more. It was important for me that NNY meet artists who live in the borough.

We we’re very inspired by so many of the generous resident artists like Valarie Piraino (below), Jaishri Abichandani, Christine Wong Yap, Kathleen Granados, Ruth Marshall, and many more. What an amazing opportunity to come face to face with artists and talk to them about their practice!

After a very exciting Open Studios experience, we shared lunch by the water and had the opportunity to explore the rest of the island.

Here’s a reflection from Myriam after our trip:

Thank you so much for this wonderful day!. I enjoyed the visit to the Governor's Island and my friend Olga, too. After, we left the Island thinking the next summer we will return again.

The visit to the art studios were interesting and we have a lot of new experiences and new ideas about art, materials and techniques. My book will have special sentences about you, Juan, and Marianna, because we appreciate everything all of you made for our learning and how you stimulated to us to make questions and to share our impressions on each room we visited. Thank you. I think we have a lot to talk and to make process of all of that, but it was a perfect first time to contact different artists and to reach a variety of other perspectives.